“When I saw Paul Ryan — man, he’s gotten in great shape. He doesn’t have a six-pack; he’s got, like, a 12-pack,” Brady, a Texas Republican, says of his fellow GOP-er, who hails from Wisconsin.

“And Heath Shuler said he was in the best shape he’d been since his football days,” Brady adds, referring to the North Carolina Democrat’s stretch as a quarterback in the National Football League, “and I was really impressed with that.”

Inspired by Ryan’s rock-hard core and Shuler’s gridiron-ready condition, Brady has joined the growing legion of legislators who have shelled out three easy payments of $39.95 (plus shipping and handling) for the privilege of pushing their limits with the P90X workout, a 12-disc home boot camp routine that has become something of a craze on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers have been carving out early-morning hours and stretching the limits of closing time at the House gym to squeeze in the hour-or-longer workouts — sold via infomercial and on the company’s website, beachbody.com — which promise to “transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days,” and which challenge participants to “bring it!” in one of a dozen different routines, six days a week.

“I’ve been doing these workouts since January in earnest,” says Ryan. “I got [California Republican Rep. Kevin] McCarthy and [Virginia Republican whip Eric] Cantor and a few guys into it. And then I talked about it in the gym, and Heath started doing it, too.”

“Heath and I have been doing it together for six months. And since Tony has been coming to do it, more have joined, and now there’s about a dozen that do it, a morning and evening crowd,” he says.

The Tony to whom he refers is Tony Horton, the celebrity trainer and creator of P90X, who has made two personal appearances on the Hill to lead sessions in the House gym for members of Congress.

“I’ve been there twice now, and we’ve got about 28 congressmen and congresswomen who have worked out with me,” says Horton, who calls Ryan and Shuler “walking billboards” for the program.

Perhaps, but how did the rest of the legislators stack up to other groups he’s led?

“The great thing about the congressmen was that they trained at just the right level for them,” he said. “So nobody had to go off in the corner and get sick or anything.”

Readers' Comments (2)

People shouldnt' vote for these people because of their brawn (Swartznegger proof positive) but their brains. I would like to see a bigger workout in that area. Seems we will have buff politicians with small brains if we believe this stuff.